How can I reduce the amount of babywipes I use?

Love the new Reduce This thing. I’ve got a question about babywipes. At home we use wash cloths for wiping sticky faces and hands but those little packs of disposable wipes are so much more convenient when we’re out and about. Does anyone have any alternatives?

You could put a damp cloth in an old re-sealable baby wipe container – either a thick washcloth or thinner clothes like hankies. They probably would get mouldy if left in there for more than a few hours though so you’d would have to get into the habit of remembering to take them out again after your excursion.

There is, of course, always the spit-on-a-hankie method much loved in mum-stereotypes too ;)

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6 Responses to “How can I reduce the amount of babywipes I use?”

Imagine, in my days they didn’t even exist! And, we all survived fine! ;)

We used to bring a plastic bag with a humid washcloth on travels, and not only for the baby. Each family member – big kids and adults, too – had their own cloth.

On excursions in nature there was always some brook or spring nearby to dip a dry cloth in, and after use the cloth was hung to dry on somebody’s rucksack. In an emergency the cloth could be wetted from a drinking bottle (of which everybody carried one).

We’ve had a few kids in our family that were allergic to the commercial wipes, so we cut up some old soft t-shirts for cloths and wetted them in a solution of water with a few drops of baby soap and aloe. The damp wipes were stored in a reused commercial wipe box. Plain wet cloths just didn’t seem to get their little bottoms clean as easily.

Now that they don’t need wipes for their bottoms…well…we’re just as likely to use the inside hem of our (or their) t-shirts to wipe a grimy face if a bathroom isn’t handy, and a wet paper towel if there is a bathroom. My daughter also likes hand sanitizer for getting the sticky off of her hands, although I probably wouldn’t use it on her face.

My mother says that she used to cut up old tees, worn out nappies and similar items into little squares, and store them together with a spray/spritz bottle of water with a few drops of eucalyptus/peppermint oil in it. When she needs a baby wipe, she spritzes a square of cloth with the minty solution.

Homemade wipes can easily be stored for a long time in a container with a solution of mostly water, a few squirts of baby wash, a few drops of teatree oil and a few drops of lavender oil. The teatree oil will prevent the wipes from going moldy or smelly. Both oils are antibacterial and I think teatree is antifungal as well. Just make sure the wipes or facecloths are completely saturated and are in a sealed container or bag.

I am a teacher and we have to use baby wipes in my classroom for sanitary reasons. When I open a box, I cut all the wipes in half with a pair of scissors and put them back into the box. Most jobs only take half of a wipe and I only have to throw out half as many.

The man that decorated my house recommended baby wipes for cleaning dirty paint. This was enough to make me decide never to use baby wipes on my baby’s new delicate skins. I made my own wipes very quickly by sewing together squares of old towel and tee-shirts. We just use these with plain water and just stick them in the washing machine when used. If that seems like too much effort , you could use cotton wool (made from cotton not synthetic stuff) because (at least if not pooey) you can put it in the compost bin rather than landfill it.